July 8 – The Italian Cultural Institute in Brussels, from today until Friday, will host a global discussion on “Women in International Relations,” an event and international training organized in collaboration with a number of high-profile organizations, such as the Women in Public Service Project, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the School of Public Administration. Other partners include the Women’s Campaign International, the Italian Society for International Organizations, The Global Women in Leadership Initiative at SAIS-Johns Hopkins, Business Professional Women International, and the New College of Pavia. The European Commission, the University Association of Contemporary European Studies, the Ministry of Education and the Fiera di Verona – Vinitaly will support the project financially. A study conducted by the Bocconi University of Milan, entitled Gender Interactions Within The Family Firm, shows how companies with a woman CEO and a female-dominated board lead to an increase in profits up to 18%, thus suggesting the importance of having women in leadership roles in the business world. Is there a similar correlation in politics and especially in international politics? What are the features that characterize women’s leadership in international relations? What are the difficulties that women leaders face in the negotiations and in international relations? These are some of the questions that will be answered during the week of events, composed of seminars and training for members only and large public conferences with speakers and trainer at the highest institutional level. The United States, following an essay in The Atlantic by former policy planner professor Anne Marie Slaughter, entitled “Why women still can’t have it all,” has been home to a debate on the role of women’s leadership, with particular reference to leadership roles in institutional contexts. The idea of the organization is to bring this debate in Europe, where such discussions have been confined mostly to business leadership.
